3x3 Friends
by daffodils-for-thrills
Summary: Becoming Lost, and Becoming Found; Becoming Humans, and Becoming Friends. ***Alternate Ending***
1. Becoming Lost

**I'm not much of a fanfiction writer, 'cause I've got my OWN stories and OWN characters to write, and also 'cause I think that it's up to the creator of the manga, book, anime, TV show, or WHATEVER it is, to write it and end it how they themselves see fit because THEY'RE the ones who came up with it in the first place. And normally, I'd NEVER write a different ending for something, because I think that how it ends is how it ends, regardless if you like it or not (and I think that if you DON'T like it, then that is all the better, 'cause it makes you mad and affects you all the more), but I started thinking of this before I actually finished the anime, so I thought it'd be okay to go ahead and write it. I've got nothing against the actual ending; this is just what came to me before I SAW the actual ending.**

**Enjoy.**

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Becoming Lost

"_PAAAAABOOOOO!!!!!_"

_Huff, puff. Huff, puff. Huff, puff._

"_PAAAAABOOOOO!!!!!_"

_Click, clack. Click, clack. Click._

Wait…

What's this…?

Why wasn't he calling Pai when he'd been calling Pabo Pai? 'Cause Pai wasn't Pabo, and Pabo wasn't Pai. Pabo was the one who had sealed away Pai. Now Pabo was Pabo, and Pai was Pai.

He'd found Pai…

But where was Pabo…?

"_PAAAAABOOOOO!!!!!_"

_Click, clack. Click, clack. Click, clack._

"_PAAAAABOOOOO!!!!!_"

_Huff, puff. Huff, puff. Huff._

He stopped in a clearing not of trees, but of rocks, huffing and puffing from clicking and clacking. "_Damn it_," he said with his hands on his knees. "_Why_ be immortal if you _still_ get tired out?"

"_YAKUMO!_"

He looked around, but couldn't find the source of the voice.

"Hehehe. _YAKUMO!_"

That's when he looked up.

Pai was descending atop Fei-Oh's back, grinning her cheerful and usual grin. _Oh_, how he had _missed_ that grin. At _this_ point, it seemed the most _beautiful_ thing in the world.

They landed; she sprang up and flew into his arms. "Did Yakumo find Pabo yet?"

He shook his head. "No, not yet…"

"Pai hopes that Yakumo will find Pabo soon."

"So do I," he said. "So do I."


	2. Becoming Found

Becoming Found 

_Sob._

_Sniffle, sniffle._

_Sob. Sob._

_Sniffle, sob._

_Sob, sniffle. Sob, sniffle. Sob, sniffle. _

_Sob._

Pabo was weeping, weeping, weeping. She'd rather be sleeping, sleeping, sleeping—sleeping in the Sanjiyan, just as she'd been until now…

But now she was hideous—hideous and piteous. How could he love her? How could Yakumo _love_ her? She wasn't even human… She wasn't even _human_…

...But neither was _Pai_.

She continued to cry.

"_PABOOOOO_!"

Was he _calling_ her…?

"_PAAAAABO_!"

…He was _calling_ her!

But she couldn't come out. She wouldn't come out. She shouldn't come out—or he'd see.

"Pai hears crying, Yakumo. ...Does Yakumo think that Pabo is _hurt_?"

"_Pabo!_"

…_No!_

"Where _are_ you?"

…_Go!_

"_Please_ come out…"

"_No!_ —_Go!_"

They stopped in their tracks only feet away from where she lay. The rocks were her shelter, but they could easily spot her if they moved on ahead, since _to her_ the rocks led. She couldn't go farther than where she now was, for the rocks went no farther than where she now was.

It happened she sniffled and gave herself away. Yakumo leaned down by the rock where she lay.

"_Pabo_... Why won't you come _out_?" he asked kindly.

"I'm hideous… I'm _hideous_… I don't want you to _see_," said she.

"I'm sure that you're not hideous... Come out and let me see."

"But Pai is so pretty, and I'm… I'm so _ugly_… I want you to _like_ me," she said, and she cried.

"I al_ready _like you, and so I still will _now_…"

"…Even if I'm a _snake_?"

"Even if you're a snake."

She slithered away from the rock where she lay, staring up with her two doleful eyes. Her scales were covered with tears from her cries, and they shimmered in the sun—her scales and tears as one.

Yakumo gathered her up in his arms.

"I will forever be grateful to you for what you decided to do. You freed _Pai_..."

"Yes, you freed _Pai_," said Pai.

"So _of course _I like you. It's not about the _outside_; it's only about the _inside_. It's about the _heart_, and _yours _is _good_..."

"Yes, _yours _is _good_," said Pai.

…And Pabo more tears shed—for what the two had said. They were not tears of fears and sadness, but of happiness—acceptance—with her two new best friends.


	3. Becoming Humans

Becoming Humans

_Giggle, giggle._

_Chuckle, chuckle._

_Giggle, giggle._

—_Glee!_

"Yakumo found the Ningen no Zou! Yakumo found the Ningen no Zou!"

Pai pranced around, chanting the phrase, as he brought it in and set in on the table. Then they stood around it, not knowing what to do, but knowing what they _wanted it_ to do.

Pai spoke up. "The Ningen no Zou wants a nonhuman's blood so the Ningen no Zou can take its power. Then the Ningen no Zou absorbs the power of the nonhuman and the nonhuman can then be a human." Her voice was very solemn and serious. For once she did not smile.

Yakumo said, "Does it have to be both? …Or can it just be _me_?"

"The Ningen no Zou wants Pai's blood, too. Not just Yakumo's."

Pabo slithered up to them. "…What about _me_?" asked she.

"Pabo can try to, _too_," Pai said, and patted Pabo's head.

Yakumo took a knife from his pocket and took Pai's small hand in his own. He gently pricked her finger, and a blood drop dribbled down. "I'm sorry... Did that _hurt_ you?"

"Pai is fine."

He pricked his own and let his own then fall onto the statue, then Pabo lent her tail to him and she, too, did the same. The Ningen no Zou drank up every last drop, and then started glowing with life. The glowing grew and rose and spread, surrounding them in blues and purples and greens.

Everything was very bright, and they could barely see. Yakumo grasped Pai's pricked hand in his own, and Pabo curled around their four feet. Yakumo squeezed shut his eyes...and then he felt Pai's hand slip from his own. He opened them again to see three eyes in the space before him. The Sanjiyan was back for one last time.

"Yakumo," she called to him, her voice very stern and commanding. "It is Pai's wish to become a human, and it is _also_ her wish to be with _you_. I grant her this wish for a human life by sacrificing my own, but it is up to you now to look after her for me. You must love her. You must protect her. You must always put her needs before your very own. You must never make her sad. You must always make her happy. You must stay with her until your very age brings you apart. I'm trusting you to keep to this. …Do you understand me?"

Yakumo nodded in stunned and awed silence, then decided it'd be better to speak. "I promise you I'll always love her and stay by her side until I die."

The Sanjiyan laughed a deep, hearty laugh. "_Also_, don't go _dying_ too soon. _Remember_ that you're not _immortal_ anymore..."

She winked her third eye, and then faded away; left behind Pai with but two. They were closed, but now they opened and gazed into Yakumo's face. She giggled and gave him a little wolfish grin, and he knew that she'd be here forever. Never again would the Sanjiyan take over Pai's body and face just to scold him. He knew now they were free, and his relief was immense. Pai was all his for forever.

The light grew very large and bright, enveloping them all. Then there was a flash, and little bits of light floated down and disappeared into the floor...

Yakumo's eyes caught the knife on the table, and he took it now and cut upon his arm. He stared at it to see if it would ever start to heal, and then, when it didn't, he rejoiced.

Pai took his hands and swung him around. "Pai is _human_—Pai is _human_! Pai is _finally_ human! ...And _Yakumo_ is human, now, _too_!" She giggled and grinned, and giggled and grinned, and he was as happy to see her so happy as he was to be a human himself.

...Something moved about their feet. They stared down at the ground. There was Pabo, still a snake, with teardrops in her eyes.

"Why did it not _work_ for me...? Why am I still _like _this?"

"Maybe the Ningen no Zou only works for Sanjiyan and Wu like Pai and Yakumo…"

"…Or is it because I don't have any power? Maybe it's 'cause I'm just _weak_…" She sniffled and sobbed upon the dust on the floor—a contrast to their happiness before. "I just want to be like _you_, with friends and family _too_..."

"Pabo wants a _gang_...?" Pai asked. "Pai has always wanted one, too... Pabo can share Pai's, and Pai can share Yakumo's! Then everyone will have a gang, and everyone will be happy!"

She smiled and turned to Yakumo. "Is Pai right?" she asked.

Yakumo grinned. "Of _course_ Pai is right."

"_Yay_! Now Pai is _finally_ able to be part of Yakumo's gang! And Pabo can be, too. We're all together!"


	4. Becoming Friends

Becoming Friends

_Chatter, chatter._

_Blab. Blab._

_Chatter, chatter._

_Blab._

_Chatter, blab. Chatter, blab._

_Chatter, chatter._

_Blab._

Pabo listened solemnly to everything they said, and sometimes whispered in Pai's ear what she, too, wanted said. She didn't talk directly to her former two best friends, but had Pai talk to them for her—_explain_ to them—instead. It was nice to see their faces one last, final time. She bid them both farewell, though in her heart and in her mind. She hoped they'd have a happy life, and those good old ones, too. And as they left them all behind, she tried hard not to rue.

They returned to Tokyo—Yakumo's gang was there—and reunited with them all as now a human pair. As for Pabo—still a snake—she hid upon Pai's back, curled beneath her clothes, and sad to human body lack. The world she viewed from Pai's small shoulder—hidden by her hair—and so with both she everything was able, too, to share. No one else besides the two of her existence knew, but she learned to live her life like that, and _she_ was happy, _too_.

She lived with Pai and Yakumo, and with just them was fine. She was proud to just be loved and say, "This life is mine." Both of them included her in everything they'd do, remembering their happiness was partly to her due.

"Pai is human thanks to Pabo," Pai would often say. The Sanjiyan and Pabo, too, had sacrificed this way.

And Yakumo remembered, too, that Pabo him had kissed. He knew she knew he'd thought her Pai, and knew his love she missed. So to her he was very kind. They formed their own strange love. The three of them were their own gang, in happiness thereof.

**-****END****-**


End file.
